Education

Biography

His teaching and research interests are in American government and institutions (especially Congress and the Presidency), campaign finance, and election administration. His current research focuses on and evaluating the effectiveness of recent state-level campaign finance reforms, and election administration.

He is the author of With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power (Princeton University Press, 2001), The Political Economy of Defense Contracting (Yale University Press, 1991),The Dysfunctional Congress? The Individual Roots of an Institutional Dilemma (Westview Press, 1999, with David T. Canon), and Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policymaking,10th ed. (Roman and Littlefield, 2018, with George C. Edwards, III and Stephen J, Wayne).

His work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Public Administration Review, Election Law Journal, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Regulation.

Awards include: Leon Epstein Faculty Fellow award (College of Letters and Science (2012-2015); Jerry J. and Mary M. Cotter Award (College of Letters and Science, 2011-2012); Fulbright Distinghuished Chair in Political Science, Australian National University, Canberra ACT (2006); the Alliant Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award (UW System, 2006); the Vilas Associates award (College of Letters and Science, 2003-2004); and the 2002 Richard M. Neustadt Award, awarded by the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association for the best book published on the presidency in 2001, for With the Stroke of a Pen).He is active as an expert witness in campaign finance, redistricting, and voter ID litigation. Recent cases include Gill v. Whitford (Western District of Wisconsin, partisan gerrymandering, 2016); One Wisconsin Institute v. Nichol (Western District of Wisconsin, voting rights, 2016); Milwaukee Breanch of the NAACP et al. v. Scott Walker, et al. (voter ID case heard in Dane County, 2012); Baldus et al. v. Brennan et al (Eastern District of Wisconsin, redistricting litigation, 2011-2012); and McComish et al. v Brewer et al. (Arizona public election funding case, 2008-2009). He has also consulted on recount disputes and Voting Rights Act matters.

Barry Burden, David Canon, Kenneth Mayer, and Donald P. Moynihan. “The Effects and Costs of Early Voting and Same Day Registration in the 2008 Elections,” Forthcoming (September, 2013) American Journal of Political Science.